Conveyor for dispensing contents of dump trucks



Jan. 30, 1962 H. c WILTON ET AL 3,018,908

CONVEYOR FOR DISPENSING CONTENTS OF DUMP TRUCKS Original Filed April 3,1958 '5 Sheets-Sheet 1 HERBERT c. WILTON ROBERT D. COSTELL E INVENTOR BYA 11'',

'3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 30, 1962 Original Filed April 3, 1958 HERBERT C.WILTON ROBERT D. COSTELLOE INVENTORS Jan. 30, 1962 H. c. WILTON ET ALCONVEYOR FOR DISPENSING CONTENTS OF DUMP TRUCKS '5 Sheets-Sheet 3Original Filed April 5, 1958 HERBERT C- WILTON ROBERT D- COSTELLOEINVENTORS BY W United States Patent Ofiice 3,018,908 Patented Jan. 30,1962 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-508) This invention relates to dump trucks andmore particularly to an attachment for the bodies of dump trucks fordistributing sand, gravel, dirt and similar substances.

This application is a substitute for our abandoned application, SerialNo. 726,224, filed April 3, 1958.

Our invention further comprehends certain auxiliary mechanism closelyassociated with the use of such dump trucks for the purpose of improvingthe general efficiency of the same and particularly in dispensing anddistributing contents of the body such as gravel, sand and similarsubstances into and along a pipe trench.

For example, in filling trenches in which coated pipes have beenpreviously laid, first with sand to cover and protect the pipe coating,then with gravel to completely fill the trench, it has been customary todump the filling material in piles at intervals along one side of thetrench, then shoveling the material into the trench by slow andexpensive hand labor.

Accordingly, it is one of the principal objects of the invention toprovide an attachment to. replace the standard tail-gate of a dumpingbody with a conveyor mechanism including a replacement tail-gatenormally closing off the rear of the dump body but releasable therefromalong its bottom edge to thereby regulate the fiow of the body contentsonto the conveyor and directly into the trench as the truck travelsalong one side thereof. The conveyor is driven by a prime moverindependent of the truck engine and when once set in motion needs nofurther attention on the part of the operator other than to coordinatethe forward movement of the truck with the progressive filling of thetrench to the proper level.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompnying drawing forming a part hereof, and inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a truck having a dumping bodyprovided with a dispensing conveyor made in accordance With ourinvention.

FIGURES 2 and 3 are fragmentary views similar to FIGURE 1 illustratingtwo operative stages of the invention.

FIGURE 4 is an elevational rear view on an enlarged scale of theinvention attached to the rear of the dumping body in an operativeposition.

FIGURE 4A is a fragmentary top plan view of one end of FIGURE 4 andtypical of both ends thereof.

FIGURE 5 is an end view of FIGURE 4 taken along the line 5-5 thereofwith some parts omitted.

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing a modified form of theinvention.

FIGURE 7 is a view of the righthand end of FIG- URE 6.

FIGURE 8 is a view on an enlarged scale of the lefthand end of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 9 is a rear view of FIGURE 6 with parts omit-ted.

FIGURE 10 is a modification of FIGURE 4 with parts omitted.

With continuing reference to the drawings, wherein like referencenumerals designate like parts, numeral 1 indicates generally a dumpingtruck or similar vehicle of any standard construction and having adumping body 2 swingable vertically by a conventional hoisting mechanism3 about an axis 4 supported on the rear end of the chassis frame 5, thevehicle or the like being of the motor driven type in this instance.

With particular reference to FIGURES 4 and 4A, the top edge of areplacement tail-gate 6 is permanently secured to a horizontal topmember 8 supported by vertical end members 9 whose bottom ends aresecured to transverse channel members 10. An intermediate verticalmember 11 is secured at its top end to the member 8 and at its bottomend to the outside rail 12 of a roll frame 13 supporting conveyor rolls14. The ends of both rails 12-and 15 of the roll frame are secured tothe channel members 10. Also secured to the channel members andextending laterally therefrom are two pairs of parallel arms 16 and 17to whose underside are rotatably mounted by suitable bearing blocks 18and 19 end rolls 20 and 21 supporting an endless conveyor belt 22.

The end roll 20 is provided with a pulley 24 driven by a belt 25entrained over a power take-off pulley 26 of an internal combustionengine 27 mounted upon a platform 28 hingedly attached at its inner edgeas at 30 to a cross member31 supported by the top end of a verticalmember 32 whose bottom end is secured to the outside rail 12 0f the rollframe 13. The outer edge of the platform 28 is provided with anover-centerlocking mechanism indicated generally at 34 and provided withan actuating lever 35 for locking the platform and engine in abelt-tight position as shown or for lowering the platform into thebroken line position to slacken the belt for engine idling or startingoperations.

The ends of the replacement tail-gate 6 are provided with stiffeningmembers 37 secured to vertical end plates members 40 are secured to thetail-gate intermediate its ends as shown. It will be noted that theengine is mounted inboard of the end plate 38 and protected by it aswell as by the upright members 9 and 11.

Coextensive with the Width of the tail-gate 6 and hingedly attached asat 42 to the bottom edge thereof is a gate 43, controlled by a handle 44and lockable thereby in the closed position shown in FIGURE 5. Forlocking the gate in a closed position or in any degree of opening, thehandle is provided with a series of apertures 45 selectively engageablewith a pin 46 extending through one flange of the vertical member 11.The bottom edge of the gate when in a closed position is in near contactwith the ridge of an apron 47 secured to the inside rail 15 of the rollframe 13 throughout the length thereof and extended inwardly therefromto overlie the corresponding marginal edge of the top run of theconveyor belt 22. Overlying the opposite edge of the conveyor belt is abaffie plate 49 secured to the vertical members 9 and 11.

The assembly thus far described is hingedly attached at its top cornersto the top rear corners of the dump body 2 by means of arms 50 securedto the end vertical members 9 and 10 and provided with an opening 51 forengagement with pins 52 carried by the dump body. The bottom forward endof the assembly is releasably secured to the bottom rear corners of thedump body by means of hook members 53 secured to the inner arms 16-ll7and adapted for locked engagement with the conventional tail-gatelatching mechanism 55 operable by a hand lever 56 at the forward end ofthe dump body. When so locked the replacement tail-gate 6 serves itspurpose of closing off the open rear end of the dump body fortransporting loads in the normal-manner as illustrated in FIGURE 1.

Upon arriving at the side of one end of a trench to be filled, the dumpbody is tilted rearwardly into a dumping'position shown in FIGURE 3 bythe tilting mechanism above referred to. This arranges the conveyor beltparallel with the ground level and in position to start the dispensingand distributing operation. This is accomplished by starting the engine27 and swinging it upwardly by its platform 28 to tighten the belt 25,then releasing the gate handle 44 to allow the gate 43 to swing open toa desired degree then re-locking it. The

degree to which the gate is opened will, of course, determine thevolumetric flow of the dump body contents onto the top run of theconveyor belt which while running to the left as viewed in FIGURE 6 willdischarge the contents on the drivers side of the truck in his reflectedline of vision from the rear view .mirror. This enables the driver tocoordinate the forward movement of the truck with the progressivefilling of the trench to the proper level.

In the modification shown in FIGURE the structural elements such as thehoriozntal top member 8A, vertical members 9Aand 11A, and the conveyor22A and engine mounting (not shown) are the same as those described inconnection with FIGURE 4 but the width of the tail-gate 6A is greater tomatch that of the wider dump bodies indicated at 2A.

In the further modification shown in FIGURES 6-9 supporting platform 28Aand over-center locking mechanism 34A are located exteriorly of the endplate 38A.

The replacement tail-gate 6B instead of being provided with a swingablegate portion, as at 43 in FIGURE 4, is

swingable in its entirety from its hinged attachment 60 to thehorizontal top member 8B. The bottom end of the tail-gate 6B is providedwith a selectively lockable handle 44A for the same purposeas the handle44 in FIGURES 4 and 5, namely, to lock the tail-gate in any desired openposition to thereby regulate the amount and flow of dump body contentsonto" the top run of the conveyor belt 22B.

The normal dumping function of the dump body is not interfered with whenequipped with our invention since either form thereof will, under theinfluence of gravity, assume the approximate position shown in FIGURE 2-when released at its bottom corners from the bottom corners of the dumpbody upon manipulation of the latch-releasing lever 56.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that we have provided anattachment for a dump truck body which of our invention we are awarethat many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves toothers skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Having thus described our invention what we claim as newand desire to protect by Letters Patent In a vehicle having a dumpingbody with parallel vertical side walls and means for elevating theforward end of the body to dump the load at the rear; the improvementcomprising a replacement tailgate for said body, said tailgatecomprising a frame and backing plate integrated therewith, a supportingmember secured to each bottom corner of said frame and extendingrearwardly therefrom, means swingably mounting the frame to the top rearcorners of said side walls of the truck body, means carried by eachbottom corner of said frame for remov-ably securing the same to thecorresponding .corners of said side walls of the truck body, whereby,

upon release of said bottom corner securing means, said tailgate willgravitationaly maintain a substantially vertical position as the truckbody is elevated to said dumping position to thereby notinterfere withnormal dumping operations, a gate hingedly attached to the bottom edgeof said plate, a roll frame comprising an outer rail and an inner railand rollers supported therebetween, said roll frame secured to andsupported by said supporting members, a driven roller and an idlingroller carried by said supporting members at opposite ends thereof, anendlessbelt entrained over said driven and idling rollers, the top runof the belt supported by said rollers of the roll frame, a downwardlyand rearwardly extending strut member securedat its top end to the topof said tailgate frame and secured at its bottom end to the outer railof said roll frame, a hand lever pivotally attached at its forward endto said gate and provided at its opposite end with spaced apart detentmeans for selective engagement with said strut to thereby maintain saidgate in a closed position relative to said backing plate or in variousselective degrees of opening relative to the plate whereby to regulatethe flow of material from the elevated truck body when said tailgate issecured to said truck body, a vertical frame carried by said roll frame,a platform hingedly attached at one of its ends to said vertical frame,means at the opposite end of said platform for locking the same in ahorizontal position relative to said frame, a prime mover mounted uponsaid platform and provided with a driving pulley, a belt entrained oversaid driving pulley and operatively connected to said driven pulleywhereby the prime mover may be lowered from a belt-tight operativeposition to a belt-slack inoperative position for engine idling orstarting operations.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSJohnson Mar. 31, 1959

